Singapore is now the richest country in the world

Saturday August 25, 2012

Living in the richest country

By most standards, it would be reason to bring out the
champagne bottle, but because of the extraordinary circumstances, the
majority of Singaporeans are not cheering.
WHILE celebrating
their 47th National Day, Singaporeans received news that people anywhere
would die to hear that their country is now the richest in the world.
Technically speaking, this transformation from a poor, squatter island in less than 50 years has been impressive.
During
this time, without much natural resources, the city has recorded one of
the world’s fastest growth rates on per capita basis, exceeded only by
Japan and Germany after World War II.
It has, like an invisible
giant hand, lifted the bulk of a squalid population and moved it into
the middle class. Few others with bigger natural assets have fared as
well.
Yet the news has evidently impressed the world more than it did Singaporeans.
The
reason is that the majority of citizens here are too concerned with the
structured high cost of living that collective wealth has bestowed. It
has made the city one of the most expensive in the world.
On
perspective, however, most Singaporeans have benefitted from the
progress over the generation. A minority has prospered greatly.
According to the Wall Street Journal,
Singapore’s per capita GDP has reached US$56,532 (RM175,250) in 2010 –
measured by purchasing power parity. This has beaten Norway, the United
States and Hong Kong.
By most standards, this would have been
reason to bring out the champagne bottle, but because of the
extraordinary circumstances, the majority of Singaporeans are not
cheering.
Since the report, the number of centa-millionaires –
people with more than US$100mil (RM310mil) – has grown 13%, higher than
the global average at 6%.
The problem is that it is predicted to grow by another 44% by 2016, which probably means higher inflation for all.
The
fact is that Singaporeans – already hit by one of the world’s highest
inflation rates – are too burdened by expensive housing, cars and
general living expenses to be cheerful.
Yet, there is no denying
that the majority of Singaporeans are living better than they ever had.
Singapore has been transformed into a middle class society and now has
the dubious title of being the wealthiest in the world.
But in the past five years, living standards have taken a turn for the worse for many people despite the collective affluence.
An influx of cheap-cost foreigners has resulted in acute shortage and income stagnation in many cases.
So why are Singaporeans so unimpressed with living in the richest land in the world? The reasons are as follows:
>
Some 37% of residents are foreigners, quite a few of them
ultra-wealthy. The import of billionaires provides little or no benefits
to the average citizens except pushing up prices. Take the foreigner
portion away and the city could be that much poorer; and
> A
large part of the wealth is in corporate hands rather than with
individuals. Not all of it ends up in big-paying jobs for locals.
As
a result of the large amount of money sloshing around, prices of things
like houses, cars and healthcare are rising with no sign of abating.
Many loans and mortgages are increasing.Forbes recently
reported: “The latest list of wealthy Singaporeans showed lots of money
sloshing around Singapore – but it may just be the tip of the iceberg.”
Good
news? I don’t think so. No Singaporeans are crazy enough to pray for
poverty, but extreme wealth in the hands of a few is just as bad.
Without that the economic gap here is already the world’s widest.
Singapore’s
richest people have a collective net worth of US$59.4bil (RM184bil), up
from $54.4bil (RM168.8bil) last year. It now has 16 billionaires
compared to 13 the previous year, Forbes reported.
Ten of
every 100,000 households in Singapore are now classified as
“ultra-high-net-worth” households, with each having more than US$100mil
(RM310mil) in private financial wealth.
All these impressive
fortunes are good for boasting, but believe me, I would rather wish for a
more even distribution. The foreign billionaires can be here today,
gone tomorrow.
Singaporeans are practical enough to realise that wealth in the form of paper notes is too transient.
Since it is measured in US dollars, part of the fast growth is due to the strong surging Singapore dollar.
Are
we in fact richer than countries like Indonesia or Australia, which may
not have our cash or GDP but have plenty of natural resources in the
ground like oil, iron or even water that are more abiding?
This
was an early reason that former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew gave for
Singapore accumulating huge amounts of reserves. “It’s for a rainy day” a
crisis to make up for lack of ground wealth.
As the wealth report was released, the pro-government TheStraits Times reported
that the number of households on short and medium-term public
assistance shot up by 81% – from 5,471 to 9,911 over the past year.
This
rising wealth is greeted with pride by a few elderly citizens who
remember their poorer past. But, by and large, Singaporeans have reacted
cynically to it.
Prominent blogger dawning bread wrote: “There
might have been a time when people here would have taken pride in such
an accolade.”
Now, he said, the publication of the news on page one of the major newspaper, The Straits Times, “must have annoyed a lot of people”.
“I don’t feel rich,” another Singaporean said. How could Singapore be richer than Switzerland or the US?
“Statistics
can be toyed around to fit any agenda. Look around you – does this look
like the richest country on the planet?” asked Invictus.